On the heels of WOISD adopting the New Visioning Plan, it has become more important than ever to reflect on what we do in our daily jobs of educating students. One way to do that is to video yourself teaching. According to Paul Moss, if we want “to measure your skill in creating a classroom culture of challenge, and curiosity, where intrinsic motivation and independent learning are the primary focus,” what better way to do that than watching yourself teach? While it is rarely comfortable being evaluated as a professional educator, we must be comfortable in utilizing feedback to improve our professional practices. Being your own first and worst critic is one way to be a self-directed learner and model for students what it’s like to take learning seriously.

The video is crucial because you will see things you might miss during the process of running your classroom. It can be as simple as propping up your iPad or smartphone on the corner of your desk facing the room and hitting record in the camera app.  Nobody will see it other than you unless you decide to share it for feedback from others, so it doesn’t have to be a professional production. Make it simple and easy for you.

Use the following chart that Paul created that gives you nine questions to ask yourself while watching the video of you teaching. And if you need to borrow a video camera to pull this off, let me know. I’d be happy to let you borrow one.